


Time Does Not Wait

by sg_wonderland



Series: The Changeling AU [1]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-29
Updated: 2011-06-29
Packaged: 2017-10-20 20:29:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/216804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sg_wonderland/pseuds/sg_wonderland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A foray into the alternate world of Fire Chief Jack O’Neill and psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Jackson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time Does Not Wait

Time Does Not Wait

 

“What have we got?” Chief Jack O’Neill tumbled out of the truck, shrugging his coat on as he ran toward the hospital.

“One of the ER patients went off.” Captain Samantha Carter met him in the parking lot. “He’s got hostages, at least one we know of. And a gun.”

O’Neill’s eyes narrowed before he swiftly schooled his expression. “How the hell did he get in here with a gun?” He bitched as he followed her into the bedlam of the ER.

“Took it off a security guard and then he beat him with it.” Sam took his elbow as he started to swing left. “They’re not down here; they’re in the doctor’s office up on fourteen.” She punched the elevator button and they started up.

He expected the floor to be swarming when they got off and he wasn’t disappointed. “Who’s the hostage?” Jack nodded at the cops in the hallway. In this small a community, you pretty much knew everyone and there were very few faces he didn’t recognize.

“Jackson. Dr…”

“Daniel.” Jack swore silently.

“Know him?” The squad leader, Kelly, asked.

“Yeah.” Jack’s voice was sharp, cutting.

Kelly nodded without speaking. They’d all been there; rolled out on a fire or a wreck or a domestic only to find one of their own.

Jack forced himself to do his job, pushed Daniel to the back of his mind. “What do you need us to do, Kelly?”

“We need eyes in there. If we get you some gear, can you get a cherry picker up and get us a view in the window?”

“Carter.” He motioned her over. “Set these guys up. Send T up in the basket.” Jack needed someone he could trust to make this work, to have Daniel’s back. “How’s the office set up?” He followed Kelly into an office the cops had obviously commandeered.

“Just like this one. Right now, the perp hasn’t closed the blinds. We’re hoping he keeps it that way. I want to send a shooter up with your man. I want to have someone there who can take the shot if it comes down to that.”

Jack’s heart skipped a beat. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come down to that. Daniel has a way with words; he may be able to talk this guy down.”

“From your mouth to God’s ear.” Kelly smiled.

*

“They got a name, Chief.” Carter pulled him to one side as a couple of cops reported to Kelly. “Craig Ramirez. He’s not one of Dr. Jackson’s patients. He made a scene in the ER earlier this week and security threw him out. From what I can gather, he came back in today, started something again and Dr. Jackson just happened to be in the ER when it happened.”

Jack sighed. “Of course he was. And he tried to talk to the guy…”

“Yes, sir, that’s what it looks like.” She paused. “They thought he was looking for drugs.”

“Dammit.” Jack swore softly.

*

It was the longest twenty-two minutes of Jack’s life until some kid at a laptop announced to Kelly they now had eyes on Daniel’s office. “Great. Let’s see what we’ve got.”

Jack peered over Kelly’s shoulder. There on the screen was a long shot into Daniel’s office through the window. “Can you get in closer?”

“I’ll try but you’re gonna lose some clarity,” the tech warned, punching keys effortlessly. “That’s about as good as it’s gonna get.”

All could see was someone with his back to the window. “Is that Jackson?”

“Yeah,” Jack answered, folding his arms across his chest, trying to keep his hands from shaking. He’d know the back of that head anywhere. “That’s Daniel.”

“What the hell is he doing in front of the window?” Kelly keyed his mike. “That’s Jackson in the window. I repeat, we have confirmation that is the hostage in the window. I want to know the second you’ve got a shot on Ramirez.” He whirled around. “O’Neill. Tell me about Jackson. What’s he like in an emergency.”

“He’s cool, doesn’t lose his head. He won’t do anything crazy.” Except maybe stand in front of a window to keep the cops from shooting some guy. If that was the case, Jack was gladly going to strangle Daniel when they got home. “What do you know about Ramirez?”

Jack’s heart plummeted when he saw Kelly’s expression. “Not gonna lie to you, Jack. It’s not good. Quite a few drug busts. Some assaults. Don’t think your buddy’s gonna talk this guy into surrendering.”

“I’ve got Jackson.” The tech announced. They crowded around the laptop.

“Son of a bitch,” Jack whispered. Daniel’s glasses were missing and there was a bruise on his right cheek and blood on his forehead that was visible even given the poor quality of the visual.

Kelly keyed his mike. “The hostage is injured, I repeat, the hostage is injured. Casey, you get a shot, you take it, you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, boss, first shot I get.”

*

Four and a half minutes later, they all heard the gunshot and the shatter of glass. Jack tried to join the rush of cops to the door, only to be stopped by Carter. “Chief, you can’t go in there. Let them do their job.” Jack ignored her, followed them into the hallway where Kelly was giving the order to break down the door, to charge in. Jack leaned against the wall and held his breath, praying there weren’t any more shots. He could hear the shouting and the thumping sounds from inside the room until Jack couldn’t bear it anymore and tried to go in. He was stopped at the door.

“It’s over,” the cop told him, motioning for the paramedics. “It wasn’t him, Chief. Jackson looks okay, a bit banged up but not bad. Just wait out here, okay?”

He wanted more than anything to follow the medics in but he stayed in the hallway, did as he was told. “Carter, give me your radio.” She handed it over. “T, talk to me.”

“Yes, O’Neill.”

“What happened?”

“Sergeant Casey took the shot. He’s pretty certain he got the guy.”

“Thanks, Tman.”

“O’Neill,” Kelly was summoning him from the door. “They’re waiting on a gurney from the ER if you want to see him before he goes down.”

Jack sprang to the door, into the waiting room where Daniel was lying on the couch, most of his face covered with a cold-pack. “Hey, Daniel.”

“Jack?” Daniel shifted the pack and looked up in confusion. “What are you doing here?”

“What? Someone holds you hostage and I’m just going to sit around and do nothing? We’re the guys who get cats out of trees.” Jack shrugged to cover his absolute relief at seeing a mostly whole and unharmed Daniel Jackson. “I’ll admit you don’t look like a cat and this is a pretty big tree.”

Daniel groaned. “Please don’t make me laugh.”

*

As they drove home three hours later, Jack once again mentally reviewed the damage. Four stitches in his forehead, a very badly bruised cheekbone, hand-sized prints around his throat and other multi-colored marks on his back and ribs. Jack planned on getting the name of that sharp-shooter and sending him a case of something alcoholic and wildly expensive.

“I could have driven myself home.” Daniel repeated for at the least the tenth time.

Jack snorted loudly. “Yeah, because you can see out of that eye.”

Daniel tilted his head. “I can see just fine.”

“There speaks a multitude of pain medication. Trust me, Daniel, you are in no shape to either drive yourself home or take care of yourself when you get there. That’s why I’m driving you home, to my home,” he emphasized, “and I’m putting you to bed. My bed.”

“Okay.” Daniel acquiesced quietly, causing Jack to give him a sudden puzzled look. “I’m too tired to fight about it.” He turned to stare out the truck window.

“You couldn’t have gotten through to that guy, you do know that, don’t you?”

“Yes, Jack,” his eyes didn’t waver from their view of the landscape speeding by.

“Then what in the merry hell were you doing?” Jack winced; his voice was harsh, much harsher than he intended. But he’d had a good scare and he was still a bit shaky.

Daniel finally turned to face him. “There were families in that ER, Jack. Parents and babies, nurses and doctors. If you think I could just stand there and let him kill a bunch of innocent people, then you don’t know me very well.”

Jack let it go until they got home, until he helped Daniel slide awkwardly out of the truck, until he got him in the house and on the couch. He made sure Daniel was snug in front of the fire, wrapped up in a favorite old quilt, his head on Jack’s lap before he spoke again. “I know you couldn’t let it go, Daniel. I know you thought about what it might cost you and I know you put yourself in harm’s way because you thought they were worth more than you were. But not to me, you know? Never to me. So just…don’t…okay?”

“There is a reason I kiss you good-bye every single morning.” Daniel tilted his head so that their eyes met. “I know that there’s a day out there, somewhere, that you’re going to walk into a fire and not walk out. I know that.” His eyes filled.

“Baby.” Jack choked on the word, remembering that very morning, Daniel pulling the covers off Jack’s sleeping face, kissing him despite Jack’s protest, before covering him back up and heading for the hospital. It took him a moment to get his voice under control. “I can’t promise you that’s not going to happen but I promise you that I’m as careful as I can be. But you have to make me the same promise. Promise me you won’t let bad men point guns at you anymore. Because I can’t lose you either.”

Daniel surged up, burying his face in Jack’s neck, his shoulders shaking. “It’s okay, it’s okay. You’re safe now, I’ve got you, baby. I’ve got you.”

Finally, their emotions under control, Jack held Daniel as he fell asleep and the flames in the fireplace burned itself out. “Just don’t.” he whispered into the silence.


End file.
